RMT strike referendum passed

[father_jack]

DEFEND JOBS, PAY AND CONDITIONS – TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES

www.rmt.org.uk

Dear RMT Member



DEFEND JOBS, PAY AND CONDITIONS – TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES



The referendum of members in each of the train operating companies involved in the national rail dispute has concluded. Members in all companies have voted to accept the proposals and have thus terminated the industrial action mandate. The results are as follows:

Company	Members Eligible To Vote	Total Votes Cast	Turnout (%)	Voting YES	Voting NO
Avanti West Coast	1856	1499	81%	1212	287
C2C	86	59	69%	55	4
Chiltern Railway	259	186	72%	164	22
Cross Country	814	692	85%	606	86
East Midlands Railway	747	612	82%	526	86
GTR	1975	1365	69%	1254	111
Great Western Railway	2438	1949	80%	1836	113
Greater Anglia	936	720	77%	687	33
LNER	1767	1399	79%	1216	183
Northern Trains	3024	2522	83%	2256	266
South Eastern Trains	1401	1117	80%	1024	93
South Western Railway	1983	1457	74%	1350	107
Island Line (SWR)	33	26	79%	24	2
Transpennine Express	525	428	82%	347	81
West Midlands Trains	1227	993	81%	897	96

Your union’s National Executive Committee will consider the matter further later today. However, I can advise you that the employers have been notified of this acceptance and asked to ensure that, as the agreement states, the 2022 pay offer and associated arrears of pay are on the next available payroll and payable by Christmas.



Thanks for participating in this referendum.



Yours sincerely



Michael Lynch

General Secretary

It will be interesting to see if the back money will actually get paid by Christmas.

 

[ValentaFan1974]

Will depend on the pay date for each of the TOC’s. I believe GA and GWR may get theirs in Jan from what I’ve heard?

I know XC’s next pay date is 22/12 so should be ok for that…

 

[Chat Moss]

Anyone any idea what will be the case for those of us who have moved TOCs and still in the same job i.e. grade? Will we get it? If so will we get it automatically or will we have to apply for it from our old employer?

 

[HamworthyGoods]

DEFEND JOBS, PAY AND CONDITIONS – TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES

www.rmt.org.uk

It will be interesting to see if the back money will actually get paid by Christmas.

Indeed for some TOCs payday is tomorrow so the pay roll will have already been run.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Will depend on the pay date for each of the TOC’s. I believe GA and GWR may get theirs in Jan from what I’ve heard?

I know XC’s next pay date is 22/12 so should be ok for that…

Not entirely what I've heard. GWR payroll is next week. I believe they've been working on the assumption it was going to pass anyway. However I believe the backdated pay in December will be on basic salary ranges only and Jan will have the affected overtime adjustments and Sunday adjustments. I await the Fastline to confirm.

 

[GreatWesterner]

What was the final offer that has been approved?

 

[Kite159]

Was that the offer which originally got rejected by the senior team within the RMT in June 2022 without getting put to the members?

 

[YorkRailFan]

That's one battle done for the RMT, many others to go (I'm talking about London Underground among others) and of course there's still ASLEF who are yet to get an acceptable offer.

 

[PsychoMouse]

Excellent news!

 

[KM1991]

Not entirely what I've heard. GWR payroll is next week. I believe they've been working on the assumption it was going to pass anyway. However I believe the backdated pay in December will be on basic salary ranges only and Jan will have the affected overtime adjustments and Sunday adjustments. I await the Fastline to confirm.

Backdated pay has never been split before. Really can’t see that being the case.

 

[STINT47]

Good news but.......it sounds like this isn't a long term solution and we will be back to uncertainty and possible strikes again in six months time.

 

[PsychoMouse]

Hopefully ASLEF aren't too far behind

 

[Dspatula]

Was that the offer which originally got rejected by the senior team within the RMT in June 2022 without getting put to the members?

no, all changes to terms and conditions were removed.

 

[footprints]

Was that the offer which originally got rejected by the senior team within the RMT in June 2022 without getting put to the members?

It's pretty much the same offer as in April 2023, not June 2022.

 

[GalaxyDog]

It may be the same offer financially, but the key difference is that the changes to terms and conditions have been removed. We have always stressed that it was about defending the terms and conditions and had for a while stated that we'd have likely accepted the 4+4% if the Ts and Cs were left alone. So major differences in the body text - people just see the headline (in this case, the pay rise % figure) and act on that information alone.

 

[Billy Hicks]

people just see the headline (in this case, the pay rise % figure) and act on that information alone.

This also goes for anyone who sees the headline and assumes the imminent strikes from tomorrow are off, which will give them a nasty surprise in the days ahead.

 

[GalaxyDog]

This also goes for anyone who sees the headline and assumes the imminent strikes from tomorrow are off, which will give them a nasty surprise in the days ahead.

Yes, because people do not realise that drivers are a separate union from most other railway staff. A number of times during RMT action I got "hurr greedy drivers" (when drivers were booking on and ready to work, as ASLEF were not taking action those particular days) and I had to explain and correct them. People's faces when they realise that there's at least three unions involved in the railways (ASLEF, RMT, TSSA - am I missing anyone?) is a something to behold.

 

[Sleepy]

So hopefully all those passengers affected by ASLEF strikes/ overtime ban from tommorow will be asking their MP why the same no strings offer hadn't been made to drivers ?

 

[NI 271]

It may be the same offer financially, but the key difference is that the changes to terms and conditions have been removed. We have always stressed that it was about defending the terms and conditions and had for a while stated that we'd have likely accepted the 4+4% if the Ts and Cs were left alone. So major differences in the body text - people just see the headline (in this case, the pay rise % figure) and act on that information alone.

I'm confident those asking actually know that, because they've been told several times before in recent months while similarly feigning ignorance in previous posts. I've no idea what their motivation is in trying to pretend otherwise, unless it is an attempt to antagonise those staff involved.

Not a good day for them, but a good one for RMT members and the railway in a wider context. I suspect it's just kicking the can down the road, but it's welcome nonetheless.

 

[GalaxyDog]

I'm confident those asking actually know that, because they've been told several times before in recent months while similarly feigning ignorance in previous posts. I've no idea what their motivation is in trying to pretend otherwise, unless it is an attempt to antagonise those staff involved.

Not a good day for them, but a good one for RMT members and the railway in a wider context. I suspect it's just kicking the can down the road, but it's welcome nonetheless.

It'll be kicking the can down the road as the actual terms and conditions negotiations are yet to start. Some may not be as bad; for example "7 day railway" and Sunday working, is already a reality for many and as I understand, those TOCs with the "contracted overtime" / rostered Sundays system will be allowed to keep that as a means of providing the Sunday service instead of forcing it into the working week.

 

[YorkRailFan]

RDG has issued their response

30 NOV 2023

RMT agreement and ASLEF strike​

A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said:
“This welcome vote from RMT members will unlock a pay rise for our people, and means that fair agreements have now been reached with three out of the four unions involved in the recent industrial dispute.
“Unfortunately, the ASLEF leadership’s decision to call further industrial action means passengers still face disruption between 1-9 December, despite an offer remaining on the table which would see basic driver salaries increase from £60k to £65k for a four-day week.
“We want to reach a fair agreement which will get more trains running on time and put the railway on a sustainable footing, at a time when taxpayers are contributing an extra £54m a week to keep services running post covid. Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we call on ASLEF to work with us to resolve this dispute for the long-term good of everyone who works in rail and the millions of businesses and passengers who rely on it every day.”

RMT agreement and ASLEF strike

News from Rail Delivery Group

media.raildeliverygroup.com

RDG having a dig at ASLEF still, the repsonse is mainly about the ASLEF strike compared to the agreement with RMT.

 

[Harpers Tate]

...the repsonse is mainly about the ASLEF strike compared to the agreement with RMT.

Well, yes. As a user, I frankly couldn't give a hoot who is on strike. My hypothetical train isn't running. That is all.

 

[jon0844]

ASLEF now needs to make sure it does as effective a job as the RMT in telling the public the dispute is primarily over changes to terms and conditions. I think the RMT did a good job, but the media still seems to think drivers are just after money and are greedy because they're already well paid.

Even the Guardian, which has generally supported the strikes, has recently appeared to have less sympathy and has trotted out the same lines about how much money drivers want, how much they're paid (and saying that some earn six figures, but not implicitly saying how that's achieved, such as doing lots of overtime) and so on.

If the Government wants to settle things, it knows what it has to do. With an election looming, it surely cannot want these battles to continue.

 

[Energy]

People's faces when they realise that there's at least three unions involved in the railways (ASLEF, RMT, TSSA - am I missing anyone?)

Unite as well but it's relatively minor.

RMT is the biggest win - IIRC for drivers it'd about 50/50 RMT/ASLEF but for guards it's 90+% RMT.

(These figures are from memory, take with a strong grain of salt.)

 

[KM1991]

It'll be kicking the can down the road as the actual terms and conditions negotiations are yet to start. Some may not be as bad; for example "7 day railway" and Sunday working, is already a reality for many and as I understand, those TOCs with the "contracted overtime" / rostered Sundays system will be allowed to keep that as a means of providing the Sunday service instead of forcing it into the working week.

One thing for certain is that they are definitely not going to get a raft of T&C changes next year now for just 4% alone.

At least with their original offer they could say to staff if you accept you’ll get 9%+ over 2 years. Now they can’t do that.

Take the L on the chin RDG.

 

[Robertj21a]

ASLEF now needs to make sure it does as effective a job as the RMT in telling the public the dispute is primarily over changes to terms and conditions. I think the RMT did a good job, but the media still seems to think drivers are just after money and are greedy because they're already well paid.

Even the Guardian, which has generally supported the strikes, has recently appeared to have less sympathy and has trotted out the same lines about how much money drivers want, how much they're paid (and saying that some earn six figures, but not implicitly saying how that's achieved, such as doing lots of overtime) and so on.

If the Government wants to settle things, it knows what it has to do. With an election looming, it surely cannot want these battles to continue.

With an election within, probably, 12 months it might actually suit the Tories to show how well they can hold wages etc down. It might well please their typical voter. Don't forget that only a very small % of travellers use the trains, at least 80-90% of voters use cars or other alternatives.

 

[matthewjohnson]

So hopefully all those passengers affected by ASLEF strikes/ overtime ban from tommorow will be asking their MP why the same no strings offer hadn't been made to drivers ?

That would mean communicating with Andrea Jenkyns who I wouldn't waste my time on

 

[AlterEgo]

How much has the average member lost in strike pay in this dispute?

 

[Train Boy]

Unite as well but it's relatively minor.

RMT is the biggest win - IIRC for drivers it'd about 50/50 RMT/ASLEF but for guards it's 90+% RMT.

(These figures are from memory, take with a strong grain of salt.)

If we are talking membership, I believe ASLEF's published statistic is that 96% of all drivers are ASLEF members.

Quote from the ASLEF website: "ASLEF – the train drivers’ trade union which represents 96% of the train drivers in England, Scotland, and Wales"

 

[footprints]

One thing for certain is that they are definitely not going to get a raft of T&C changes next year now for just 4% alone.

At least with their original offer they could say to staff if you accept you’ll get 9%+ over 2 years. Now they can’t do that.

Take the L on the chin RDG.

If this is such a huge triumph for the RMT, why didn't they recommend such an incredible offer to their members?